News

Milloy continues to make excuses for misleading statements on gas plants

February 21, 2013

QUEEN’S PARK – This morning’s announcement that the Liberal government will release even more documents relating to its seat-saver decision to cancel the Mississauga and Oakville gas plants casts further doubt on Liberal MPP John Milloy’s assertion that he unwittingly misled Ontarians by claiming all information had been disclosed, Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris said today.

“Yesterday, Milloy again made excuses for his misleading statements, saying he didn’t know his repeated claims that ‘every single document’ had been released were false,” Harris said.

“Then, just before question period this morning, we learned, for the third time, that the Liberals have even more documents to release. It’s somewhat hard to believe that the House Leader, who has been the lead spokesperson of McGuinty-Wynne government, wouldn’t know that thousands of pages of documents were still being withheld,” Harris said.

Harris pointed out that the timing of this latest release is in no way a coincidence –coming just one day after the PC Party moved a motion of contempt against the Liberal government for withholding information on the true costs of the cancellation of the gas plants.

“Today’s revelation comes 127 days after former premier Dalton McGuinty hastily prorogued parliament to shut down a committee investigation into the Liberals’ seat-saver program. Contempt was brought forward yesterday and, amazingly, new documents were found last night. Not surprisingly, it has taken contempt charges to get this government to come clean against their will,” Harris said.

BACKGROUND

Last year, John Milloy, MPP for Kitchener-Centre, admitted that he had provided inaccurate statements in the House, stating that the Liberal government had released “every single document” requested by the members investigating the Liberals’ seat-saver program.

Under the threat of contempt of parliament, the Liberal government initially released 36,000 pages of documents on Sept. 24, with hundreds of redactions and no emails from the former or current Energy Minister.

Still, that didn’t stop Milloy from telling the media on Sept. 25 that “there was absolutely nothing redacted,” and that “every single document has been provided.”

Then, on Oct. 12 the Liberal government released another 20,000 pages — again incomplete, redacted, whited out and using code words to describe the cancellations.

On Feb. 21, 2013, the Liberal government announced that it will release even more documents.